With Love + Gratitude

November 22, 2016

Welcome! If you're reading this, then you are hopefully enjoying a visit to our newly redesigned website. It has been quite a bit of labor for our team, and I am immensely grateful for the dedication, attention to detail, and team spirit that went into making this happen. Please let us know what you think. The driving principle was to create an immersive LFrank experience for those who can't make it to the boutique in Venice, and to ensure that the online shopping experience is both a delight and a breeze. Enjoy having a look!

Recently, we co-hosted a party with Lisa Love for Pamela Hanson, who was in town signing her gorgeous new book, Private Room. We are thrilled to have a few copies left, and have made the book available here online in our Essentials category. This chic, sexy, charming, and romantic book contains portraits of eight women taken by Pamela at Lafayette House in NYC over the course of a couple of years, and styled by Susan Winget. The result is a truly special publication, in a limited release by art-book publisher Damiani of 1000 copies.

Another project (and complete labor of love) that I have been immersed in is the development of our gentlemen's sleepwear collection. We don't want the men in our lives to feel left out of the personal luxury conversation, so we are delighted to offer robes and pajama pants with the same exquisite attention to detail that the women's collection has. The fabrics are the finest Italian men's shirting cottons, and feature french seams, contrast piping, mother of pearl buttons, and expert tailoring. For the holidays we will have the softest cotton flannel, as well as a super fine wale corduroy. Both are excellent gift options for the men on your holiday list.

Pairing two of my loves together in a necklace was such a natural thing to do. Lace and jewels are quite complementary, as seen here with our diamond slice pendant on a length of Solstiss Chantilly lace. We have additional pendants that can be worn this way as well. Swing by or give us a call if you would like to see what is in stock, or available to order.

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, I am now turning my attention to Thursday, and to sharing the day with family and friends. We take Thanksgiving quite seriously in our house, cooking up a storm, and this year is no exception. If anything, I feel that the volume is turned up a bit higher. Our son is home from college, and is so excited for the home cooking that he has been missing this first semester away from home. Of course we will be making all of his favorites, including Persimmon Pudding. I shared that recipe a couple of years ago on the site, and I'm sharing it again here because yes, it's really that good.

Persimmon Pudding

from Stars Desserts by Emily Luchetti

Serves 8

Ingredients:

3 ripe Hachiya persimmons (tip: freeze to ripen instantly)

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

4 ounces (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups of half and half (or 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of heavy cream)

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan. Remove the stems from the persimmons and cut the flesh into pieces. Purée the persimmon flesh in a food processor until smooth. Strain the purée through a medium-mesh sieve to eliminate any bits of skin and seed. You should have 2 cups purée. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until blended. Whisk in the melted butter. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and salt onto a piece of parchment paper or into a bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Slowly pour in the half + half or milk and cream, stirring until combined. Stir in the persimmon purée last. The batter will be quite thick. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving. The pudding will sink as it cools. Serve the pudding warm, scooped into bowls with slightly sweetened whipped cream. I use maple syrup in the cream for a more complex flavor. It can be reheated it in a 325°F oven for about 15 minutes if you make this ahead.